When West Ham United travels to West Yorkshire to try and get their Premier League season back on track against a hapless Leeds United side, they will be delighted to welcome back striker Michail Antonio.
Antonio missed the previous league fixture as he was serving a ban, due to the red card he was issued in the match against Southampton.
Leeds United vs West Ham United FYIs:
Kick-off time: 3:00 PM GMT, 25 September, Saturday
Weekly Premier League Preview Podcast: go here
West Ham Starting XI predictions: go here
Form Guide (Premier League): Leeds (LDDLD) West Ham (WWDDL)
Assistant manager Stuart Pearce confirmed to the BBC after their Carabao Cup victory last night that Antonio was actually fit to play this weekend saying:
“We didn’t see fit to play him this evening, simple as that. Mich wanted to be here and be part of it. We’re a pretty close squad so everyone’s turned up and wants to be part of it. And we’ve got a big game coming up at Leeds on Saturday. So it was just a selection issue, Mich’s perfectly fit.”
This would have been music to Hammers fan’s ears, given there was some additional concern when he didn’t line up in the midweek clash.
Elsewhere there could be some tough decisions to make in the center of defense after the pairing of Michael Dawson and Issa Diop kept a clean sheet.
However, I imagine Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna will probably remain the first choice duo for the time being. There will be no room for complacency though as Dawson and Diop are breathing down their necks.
The recent departure of club stalwart and Kiwi-born defender Winston Reid, by mutual consent, has done nothing to deplete the centre back stocks at the London Olympic Stadium.
Right-back Ryan ‘Flash’ Fredericks suffered a worrying-looking injury against Manchester United.
Succumbing to his own pace as he crashed into the hoardings directly after setting up the only goal in the League Cup clash. He tried to run it off, but couldn’t and was thus replaced by Coufal.
There has been no official word from the club yet, but it looked a pretty bad one for the London-born defender.
Besides the Fredericks injury, West Ham has a clean bill of health and will have an almost full squad to pick from this weekend.